


where we chose to go

by mardia



Category: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Kid Fic, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 19:45:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18125666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mardia/pseuds/mardia
Summary: Popping her earbuds out, Beverley calls out to the living room, “Babes? How’s it going in there?”“Just about done!” Peter calls back, sounding remarkably less panicked than the last time he did this. It probably helps that Laura’s not howling.(Written for seiya234, who requested a fic about Beverley and Peter as parents. )





	where we chose to go

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from a song by Solange.

Beverley stretches out in her chair, letting out a sigh of relief as she looks over the conclusion to her essay. Popping her earbuds out, Beverley calls out to the living room, “Babes? How’s it going in there?”

“Just about done!” Peter calls back, sounding remarkably less panicked than the last time he did this. It probably helps that Laura’s not howling. 

Beverley gets out of her seat and heads over to the living room, stretching out her aching back as she does—they really will have to get a better chair for her desk soon—and when she stands in the doorway, it’s to the sight of Peter wrangling their daughter’s hair into two respectable puffs of dark curls, Laura cuddling the stuffed toy bird that Sahra and Michael Cheung had gotten Laura as a gift and as a joke, Sahra handing the brown stuffed bird to Peter with a waggle of her eyebrows. 

“It’s her own personal starling,” Sahra had said with a grin, and it’s now their daughter’s favorite toy. 

“And there we go,” Peter says with triumph as he secures the second puff, and not a moment too soon, as Laura’s caught sight of Beverley and immediately moves to crawl towards her, making the “Mmm! Mmm!” sound that is the closest she can get yet to saying “Mama”. 

“Looking good, sweetheart,” Beverley says, crouching down on her knees and holding her arms out as Laura determinedly wriggles on the carpet towards her. “Don’t you look so pretty today!” she exclaims, Laura burbling delightedly as she reaches Beverley, Beverley scooping her up in her arms and placing loud, smacking kisses all over her daughter’s chubby cheeks. 

Peter’s leaning back on his arms and grinning as he watches them. “How’s your essay going?”

“Just finished,” Beverley says, with one last smacking kiss to Laura’s forehead. Pulling back to look over Peter’s handiwork, she says, “Nice part down the middle. It is…almost even.” She looks over at him and raises an eyebrow. “Did you detangle and comb through the back like I showed you?” Honestly, she can tell he did just from looking at Laura’s hair, but it’s always fun teasing him.

“Of course I did,” Peter says indignantly. “I’m not having our baby going round with tangled hair.”

This, from the man who used to avoid going to the barber more than once a year. Her lips twitching, Beverley makes a point of inspecting Laura’s hair closely, before saying, “Not bad. We’ll have you graduating to twists and braids in no time.”

The smug look on Peter’s face is wiped off in an instant. “There’s no need to rush things,” he says quickly. 

“They’re easier than they look, Peter,” Beverley laughs, but the panicked look on Peter’s face makes it clear that he’s not convinced. “We’ll find a good tutorial on YouTube, how’s that,” Beverley promises, still laughing, and Peter grumbles, but he quiets down as Beverley comes over to sit next to him on the floor.

“Fine, but you’re also going to have to watch me the first few times I try,” Peter warns, although as his warning comes with a kiss to her temple, Beverley’s not too worried about it. “Otherwise I’ll end up with tangled knots where the braids should be.”

“Deal,” Beverley agrees, turning her head to press a soft kiss to Peter’s mouth, one that’s only interrupted where Laura makes a break from Beverley’s lap to start scooting towards the kitchen.

She posts a photo of Laura’s hair to her Instagram account later that night, captioning it, _Get you a man ready to figure out how to do his daughter’s hair when you’ve got an essay for school due in the morning._

The likes start piling up almost immediately, and Chelsea is the first one to leave a comment below the photo, joking, _does he take appointments???? My hairdresser’s on vacation_ ☹

Beverley shows her screen to Peter, who just laughs as he heads off to give Laura her evening bath, saying, “Tell Chelsea I’m booked for the next three months straight.”


End file.
